The seller says that this 1958 Lincoln Premier was “untouched for 50 years” and it sure looks great! The car is in Rancho Cucamonga, California and is listed on eBay with a price of $9,000 and no bids. These cars will sell for several times that amount in perfect condition and two-door hardtop cars like this one can be even more valuable, monetarily. This is a 19-foot long, 5,000-pound car so you’ll need a heavy-duty trailer to get this one home. This car is too nice to turn into a pickup, you’ll want to keep this one intact, hopefully.
The Lincoln Premiere was sold from 1956 to 1960 and this is a second-generation car made from 1958 to 1960. The body on this car looks absolutely solid and almost perfect. The charges from the chrome shop will not be inexpensive, and this car will need a little polishing, or maybe more if you’re going to restore it. It’s nice enough where I’d just make sure the mechanical parts were perfect and drive it as it looks here. The “Suede” color looks great on this car, in my opinion. Maybe a little light color-sanding and polishing and a few coats of wax and you’d be in business.
This is the only interior photo, unfortunately. I’m not sure why that would possibly be the case in 2016, but it is. And, it seems odd to me that a car that was parked for 50 years has a dash-top note pad. I’m kidding, but it does look like there’s a packet of Post-It notes in there. The Premiere was Lincoln’s mid-level sedan and was replaced in 1960 by the Continental. These interiors are stunning when they’re in perfect condition.
This is a 430 V8 with a very impressive 375 hp and 490 ft-lb of torque! Just think how this car would have performed if it could have somehow shed a ton of weight. Lincoln, and Mercury, offered a “Super Marauder” version of the 430 engine in 1958 with two four-barrels and 400 hp, the first production car to reach that pinnacle of power. This whole car looks like it would be up and on the street again with a little overdue (by five decades) maintenance; changing all fluids, all rubber parts, etc. It has brand new tires so you can check that off the list, and luckily they aren’t 22″ dubs with spinners! Would you restore this car or just get it working and then slowly tinker with detailing and cleaning it up as you drove it?
Does that thing come with it’s own zip code? Or landing lights so it can function as an aircraft carrier?
What a beauty ! I would leave the body as it is and drive it …… but that’s just my opinion
Different shade of paint on the rear fender between fender skirt & bumper, usually as a result of rust repairs. Also, steering wheel’s plastic outer coating is worn off, that typically takes 75,000 miles. Take a look at the carpet around the dimmer switch [same photo as steering wheel], carpet is worn down to the the base weave. This is not a low mileage vehicle. Chances are the driver’s seat & armrest are equally worn.
Taking the figure of 50 years from new would bring it up to 2008, & it’s 8 years later now. That suggest the car was driven into the early to mid 1960s before being put away. So if we consider the average mileage of 12,000 miles a year, that’s in the ballpark for the amount of wear showing. For a 1958 car, that kind of mileage is typically when they started wearing out. If it’s still got the push-button chassis lubrication system, chances are the front suspension is shot, as the system was very troublesome.
I think these old Lincolns still had a kingpin front end. My family had a ’60 Mark III and I think my old man mentioned it had that.
My dad had one of these when it was a couple years old. The power steering went out. Oh what fun!
I can smell the interior mold from here
I could never figure out what that thing is on the front fender that surrounds the wheel / tire.
Wait……I know—–it’s “styling”.
If I had to guess, I would say it is there for structural support. I believe I read where these cars are unibody, (the largest ever built). All those sharp angles and creases in the body were there to keep the fenders from buckling when encountering potholes. This is also why these cars weigh 5,000 pounds . . .
These Lincolns had lots of body flex. The weight savings of a unit body car was lost because of additional reinforcement needed to keep the car steady. I’ve heard the first cars (without the reinforcement) flexed enough to bang the rear bumper on the ground.
Looks like the yellow license sticker is 1966, guess that would be last year on the road. That’s 50 years ago. The red one looks to be 1965.
Cool.
The ’58 Edsel, Mercury, and Lincoln all look like the stylists could not stop themselves.
If you look at these closely, here and there you can see hints of the Batmobile in the shapes of fenders etc.
The Batmobile was a 1955 Futura. It was a concept car that Barris bought and customized.
The blue tint on the LF whitewall indicates that this was a new tire from the past that has never been cleaned. It was common practice for tire manufacturers to apply this protectant to 50’s and 60’s whitewalls but it cleaned off easily.
According to Wiki: What became the iconic Batmobile used in the 1966–1968 live action television show and its film adaptation was a customized vehicle that originated as a one-off 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car.
I’ve always loved these giants ! After seeing the stunning Mark II and Premier during 1956 and 1957, I wonder if customers were puzzled walking into Lincoln showrooms in 1958 . . .
Packard designers went to Ford.
Lincoln stood proud in those days, nowadays Lincoln is on the fringe.
Why did it sit?